All bolding is mine.
This is R26:
Quote:
During the period between the shipment of the ROBOT and the competitions: During this period, all teams may manufacture SPARE, REPLACEMENT, and UPGRADE PARTS, and develop software for their ROBOT at their home facility.
A.
Teams may manufacture all the SPARE, REPLACEMENT and UPGRADE PARTS they want.
B.
There is no limit to the amount of time that may be put into this effort, other than via the realities of the calendar.
C.
Teams may continue development of any items retained under the WITHHOLDING ALLOWANCE, continue to work on them during this period, and then bring them to the competition events.
D.
The total weight of the FABRICATED ITEMS (SPARE, REPLACEMENT, and UPGRADE PARTS, plus all WITHHOLDING ALLOWANCE items) worked upon during this period and brought to the competition event(s) must not exceed the limits specified in Rule <R36>.
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Upgrade part definition:
Quote:
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UPGRADE PARTS - A COMPONENT or MECHANISM intended to provide additional functionality not currently available on the ROBOT. UPGRADE PARTS may be COTS items or custom FABRICATED ITEMS, and may either add to or replace existing functionality.
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This is R36:
Quote:
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Teams may bring a maximum of 40 pounds of custom FABRICATED ITEMS (SPARE PARTS, REPLACEMENT PARTS, and UPGRADE PARTS, plus all WITHHOLDING ALLOWANCE items) to each competition event to be used to repair and/or upgrade their ROBOT at the competition site. All other FABRICATED ITEMS to be used on the ROBOT during the competition shall arrive at the competition venue packed in the shipping crate with the ROBOT.
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The combination of these three rules seem to imply that a team could work on their game piece (or anything, really) after the robot ships, so long as it weighs less than 40lbs. They can also work on their software to an unlimited extent. Although the stated intent of R26 is so that teams can familiarize themselves with the control system, it seems that a side effect is that teams can also work on a 40lb subset of their robot to an unlimited extent.
Do people agree with this interpretation? Is this a problem?